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On this day: July 23

2012: Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, dies following a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 61.

2011: Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse dies of alcohol poisoning in the Camden neighborhood of London, England. She was 27.

2010: The world record heaviest hailstone falls in Vivian, South Dakota, weighing 1 pound, 15 ounces with a diameter of 8 inches and a circumference of 18.6 inches.

2000: Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to complete a career Grand Slam when he wins the British Open at age 24.

1995: Comet Hale-Bopp is discovered; it will become visible to the naked eye nearly a year later.

1992: The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Pope Benedict XVI-to-be Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that "it is not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account" when making laws concerning "adoption or foster care, in employment of teachers or athletic coaches and in military recruitment."

1984: Vanessa Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign when she surrenders her crown after nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine.

1982: The International Whaling Commission votes to end commercial whaling by 1985-86.

1982: Actor Vic Morrow, known for his starring role in the 1960s TV series "Combat!" and for roles in movies such as "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry," "The California Kid" and "The Bad News Bears," dies along with two child actors when a stunt helicopter crashes on them during the filming of "Twilight Zone: The Movie" in Ventura County, California. He was 53.

1973: Monica Lewinsky, with whom U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an affair with while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996, is born in San Francisco, California.

1972: Actor and filmmaker Marlon Wayans (left) is born in New York City. He is known for his frequent collaborations with his brother Shawn Wayans, including the sitcom "The Wayans Bros." and the comedic films "Scary Movie," "Scary Movie 2," "White Chicks," "Little Man" and "Dance Flick." He also has appeared in the movies "Requiem for a Dream," "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" and "The Heat."

1972: The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite. The near-polar orbiting spacecraft served as a stabilized, Earth-oriented platform for obtaining information on agricultural and forestry resources, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water resources, geography, cartography, environmental pollution, oceanography and marine resources, and meteorological phenomena.

1971: Bluegrass-country singer-songwriter and musician Alison Krauss is born in Decatur, Illinois.

1967: In Detroit, Michigan, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African-American inner city following a police raid of an unlicensed, after-hours bar. The riots would continue for five days, leaving 43 dead, 467 injured and more than 2,000 buildings destroyed.

1967: Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is born in Fairport, New York. Hoffman won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in "Capote" and also was nominated for Oscars for his roles in "Charlie Wilson's War," "Doubt" and "The Master." He's also known for movies such as "Twister," "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Almost Famous" and "Moneyball." He died of acute mixed drug intoxication at age 46 on Feb. 2, 2014.

1966: Bob Dylan's album "Blonde on Blonde" debuts on Billboard's Top LP's chart. It would peak at No. 9 and stayed on the chart for 34 weeks.

1966: Actor Montgomery Clift, known for roles in movies such as "The Search," "Red River," "A Place in the Sun," "From Here to Eternity" and "Judgment at Nuremberg," dies of a heart attack at age 45 in New York City. Clift received four Academy Award nominations during his career, three for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor.

1962: The Telstar satellite relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite.

1962: Actor Eriq La Salle, best known for playing Dr. Peter Benton on the TV series "ER," is born in Hartford, Connecticut.

1961: Actor Woody Harrelson, who first found fame on the sitcom "Cheers" before starring in movies such as "White Men Can't Jump," "Kingpin," "Zombieland" and "The Hunger Games," is born in Midland, Texas. For his roles in "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and "The Messenger," Harrelson earned Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

1956: A Bell X-2 rocket plane sets the record for fastest speed by an aircraft, reaching Mach 2.87, or more than 1,900 mph, 60,000 feet above the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

1948: Film director D. W. Griffith, best known for the movies "The Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance," dies of a brain hemorrhage in Hollywood, California, at the age of 73.

1940: Talk radio host Don Imus is born in Riverside, California.

1936: Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Don Drysdale, who won three World Series titles in his 14 seasons with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, is born in Van Nuys, California. Drysdale was a nine-time All-Star who won the Cy Young Award in 1962. He died of a heart attack at the age of 56 on July 3, 1993.

1914: Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia would reject those demands and Austria would end up declaring war on July 28.

1904: Charles E. Menches, according to some accounts, invents the ice cream cone during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the St. Louis World's Fair.

1903: Ford Motor sells its first Model A car. It features a twin-cylinder internal combustion engine designed and manufactured by then little-known Michigan machinist Henry Ford and was assembled at the Mack Avenue plant in Detroit.

1888: Author Raymond Chandler, best known for hard-boiled detective novels like "The Big Sleep" and "The Long Goodbye," is born in Chicago.

1885: Ulysses S. Grant, the Civil War general and the 18th president of the United States, dies of throat cancer in Mount McGregor, New York, at age 63.

1875: American inventor, actor, and entrepreneur Isaac Singer, who made important improvements in the design of the sewing machine and was the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, dies at age 63 in Paignton, Devon, England.

1829: William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.

1715: The first lighthouse in America is authorized by the Boston Light Bill for construction at Little Brewster Island in Massachusetts. The Boston Lighthouse, which marks the entrance to Boston harbor, has guided ships since its lantern was first lit just before sunset on Sept. 14, 1716. The lighthouse is also the last remaining manned station in the U.S.

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